Hacker Responsible For Trump 'Gunfire' Tweet, BBC Northampton Says

Hacker Responsible For Trump 'Gunfire' Tweet, BBC Northampton Says

A BBC regional news outlet briefly provoked alarm by appearing to break a world exclusive about a gun attack on Donald Trump.

BBC Northampton claimed its Twitter account had been hacked after it unexpectedly announced: "Breaking News: President Trump is injured in arm by gunfire #Inauguration".

It followed the historic swearing-in ceremony of the new US President in Washington DC which came against a backdrop of violent protests across the country.

The apparent global scoop from the East Midlands broadcaster was met by a mixture of bafflement and disbelief from online users.

One asked: "Are you sure?"

Another said: "Guessing you've been hacked? Not seen this ANYWHERE else!"

After a short period of confusion, the tweet was deleted and a clarification was sent out.

It read: "Message from OurMine: we detected unusual activity on this account, the account was hacked by someone and we are trying to fix the issue now."

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